Published: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 5:54 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at 5:54 p.m.

PALM COAST — Frankie Short and her teacher Michelle Czarnecki turned a recent trip to a local grocery store into a social experiment.

Facts

If you go

WHAT: Silent dinner

WHEN: 5-8 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Ruby Tuesday, 60 Garden St., Palm Coast

DETAILS: 20 percent of sales from diners who have a flier will go to the American Sign Language Club at Matanzas High School

The two shopped without using their voices because they wanted to experience the errand as if they were deaf. While picking up doughnuts in the bakery department, a couple asked Frankie if she'd tried the treats before. The 17-year-old didn't respond, and the couple called her "rude."

"I felt bad for deaf people because they don't even know if people are talking about them behind their back and people probably do it all the time," she said.

Now Frankie and other members of the Matanzas High School American Sign Language Club are challenging others to eat an entire meal without talking. People are asked to sign or pass notes to converse during a Silent Dinner planned for Friday night.

They're hoping the exercise will help people become more aware of deaf members of their community. Frankie points out that signing can be an invaluable skill, even for people with perfect hearing. Nine of 10 deaf children are born to hearing parents, for example.

"You could go deaf any day when you get older and you could have kids who are deaf," she said.

During her sophomore year, Frankie traveled with the Matanzas choir to Disney World and noticed someone signing the words to their songs. She's now considering a career as an interpreter.

"At first I took it because I needed a foreign language for school," Short said. "After halfway through my first year, I really started liking it."

Frankie is not alone. Czarnecki's ASL classes are maxed out with about 160 students studying the language. The teacher sometimes catches her students signing along with their favorite music or using their hands to communicate in a noisy hallway.

Deafness is relatively rare: Between two and four of every 1,000 Americans are "functionally deaf," though most lose their hearing later in life. Less than one in 1,000 become deaf before age 18, according to the Gallaudet Research Institute at Gallaudet University, a Washington, D.C., school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

There were 11 deaf students in Flagler County schools and 54 in Volusia during the 2011-2012 school year, according to data from the Florida Department of Education.

Though deaf students are small in number, their opportunities are growing, thanks in part to the No Child Left Behind Act. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students may no longer be left out of state and district level testing systems and must have access to the same curriculum as hearing students.

Some students considered deaf may have some hearing ability and communicate using hearing aids or systems that transmit the teacher's voice into a receiver in the student's ear. Others are provided with interpreters, said Wanda Vega, executive secretary to the director of Flagler's Exceptional Student Education department.

Until this year, deaf Flagler students attended "cluster sites" with other deaf students, but because their abilities varied widely, the district moved them back to their neighborhood schools.

"Every student might be functioning at a different level, and based on every student's particular need, it was in their best interest to cater to every individual need (and their home schools)," Vega said.

However, there's still not enough access to education and jobs for deaf children and adults, said Amy Barber, a deaf advocate for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, part of Easter Seals of Volusia and Flagler counties. A common problem is schools and employers who don't want to hire interpreters, especially because not all deaf people can use notes to communicate, Barber said.

"A lot of deaf get Social Security and disability (benefits) and they really don't want to do that," Barber said. "They want to work, but they're just stuck — no one will hire them."

Barber, who is deaf, used a video relay service to talk with a reporter by phone.

"People need to realize that we have no choice and we can't speak or hear — they can learn to sign," Barber said. "I wish all people could sign."

Frankie echoes her sentiment.

"A lot of people stare at you when you're signing," she said. "When we're signing at (the store), people stare at us like they've never seen it before."

During a different silent shopping trip, she used her phone to type a message asking staff in the bakery department to write "Happy Birthday," on a package of cupcakes. The man simply started talking louder.

She typed "never mind" and walked away.

If you go

WHAT: Silent dinner

WHEN: 5-8 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Ruby Tuesday, 60 Garden St., Palm Coast

DETAILS: 20 percent of sales from diners who have a flier will go to the American Sign Language Club at Matanzas High School

<p>PALM COAST &mdash; Frankie Short and her teacher Michelle Czarnecki turned a recent trip to a local grocery store into a social experiment.</p><p>The two shopped without using their voices because they wanted to experience the errand as if they were deaf. While picking up doughnuts in the bakery department, a couple asked Frankie if she'd tried the treats before. The 17-year-old didn't respond, and the couple called her "rude." </p><p>"I felt bad for deaf people because they don't even know if people are talking about them behind their back and people probably do it all the time," she said. </p><p>Now Frankie and other members of the Matanzas High School American Sign Language Club are challenging others to eat an entire meal without talking. People are asked to sign or pass notes to converse during a Silent Dinner planned for Friday night. </p><p>They're hoping the exercise will help people become more aware of deaf members of their community. Frankie points out that signing can be an invaluable skill, even for people with perfect hearing. Nine of 10 deaf children are born to hearing parents, for example. </p><p>"You could go deaf any day when you get older and you could have kids who are deaf," she said.</p><p>During her sophomore year, Frankie traveled with the Matanzas choir to Disney World and noticed someone signing the words to their songs. She's now considering a career as an interpreter.</p><p>"At first I took it because I needed a foreign language for school," Short said. "After halfway through my first year, I really started liking it." </p><p>Frankie is not alone. Czarnecki's ASL classes are maxed out with about 160 students studying the language. The teacher sometimes catches her students signing along with their favorite music or using their hands to communicate in a noisy hallway. </p><p>Deafness is relatively rare: Between two and four of every 1,000 Americans are "functionally deaf," though most lose their hearing later in life. Less than one in 1,000 become deaf before age 18, according to the Gallaudet Research Institute at Gallaudet University, a Washington, D.C., school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.</p><p>There were 11 deaf students in Flagler County schools and 54 in Volusia during the 2011-2012 school year, according to data from the Florida Department of Education. </p><p>Though deaf students are small in number, their opportunities are growing, thanks in part to the No Child Left Behind Act. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students may no longer be left out of state and district level testing systems and must have access to the same curriculum as hearing students. </p><p>Some students considered deaf may have some hearing ability and communicate using hearing aids or systems that transmit the teacher's voice into a receiver in the student's ear. Others are provided with interpreters, said Wanda Vega, executive secretary to the director of Flagler's Exceptional Student Education department.</p><p>Until this year, deaf Flagler students attended "cluster sites" with other deaf students, but because their abilities varied widely, the district moved them back to their neighborhood schools.</p><p>"Every student might be functioning at a different level, and based on every student's particular need, it was in their best interest to cater to every individual need (and their home schools)," Vega said. </p><p>However, there's still not enough access to education and jobs for deaf children and adults, said Amy Barber, a deaf advocate for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, part of Easter Seals of Volusia and Flagler counties. A common problem is schools and employers who don't want to hire interpreters, especially because not all deaf people can use notes to communicate, Barber said. </p><p>"A lot of deaf get Social Security and disability (benefits) and they really don't want to do that," Barber said. "They want to work, but they're just stuck &mdash; no one will hire them."</p><p>Barber, who is deaf, used a video relay service to talk with a reporter by phone.</p><p>"People need to realize that we have no choice and we can't speak or hear &mdash; they can learn to sign," Barber said. "I wish all people could sign."</p><p>Frankie echoes her sentiment. </p><p>"A lot of people stare at you when you're signing," she said. "When we're signing at (the store), people stare at us like they've never seen it before."</p><p>During a different silent shopping trip, she used her phone to type a message asking staff in the bakery department to write "Happy Birthday," on a package of cupcakes. The man simply started talking louder.</p><p>She typed "never mind" and walked away.</p><p>If you go</p><p><b>WHAT:</b> Silent dinner</p><p><b>WHEN:</b> 5-8 p.m. Friday</p><p><b>WHERE:</b> Ruby Tuesday, 60 Garden St., Palm Coast</p><p><b>DETAILS:</b> 20 percent of sales from diners who have a flier will go to the American Sign Language Club at Matanzas High School</p>